Safety appliance for railway-cars.



Patented Sept. 7, 1915.

T. B. LA RUE.

SAFETY APPLIANCE FOR RAILWAY CARS.

THEODORE B. LA RUE, 0F SPOKANE, WASHINGTON.

SAFETY APPLIANCE FOR RAILWAY-CARS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 7,1915.

Application filed November 21, 1914:. Serial N 0. 873,367.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, THEODORE B. LA Run, a citizen of the United States,residing at Spokane, in the county of Spokane and State of Washington,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Safety Appliancesfor Railway-Cars, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to new and useful improvements in safety appliancesfor street railway, interurban and steam cars of the type which areprovided with automatic air brake systems.

The principal object of my invention is to provide a safety device whichmay be used in cases of emergency by either the conductor, motorman,brakeman or any other member of the train crew and by the passengers aswell, for quickly applying the air brakes to bring the train or car to afull and almost immediate stop when a disastrous collision, derailment,or the like is about to occur.

It is a well known fact that many accidents could be avoided were itpossible'for the passengers, who often times observe the tendency of acollision or derailment before the motorman, conductor or any othermember of the train crew, to have within reach means whereby they couldapply the emergency air brakes. For this purpose, therefore, I aim as amore specific object of my invention to provide a safety applianceconsisting essentially of a pair of cables, extending along the sides ofthe cars, which cables are connected to the conductors valve on the airline and are accompanied by a plurality of operating rods mountedtransversely in the car, one being positioned beneath each seat thereof.a

A further object of my invention is to mount the cables in metal tubesor pipes which are secured to the walls of the cars and are equippedwith pulleys over which the cable rides.

An object of equal importance with the foregoing is to construct theappliance with such regard to proportion and arrangement of parts thatit may be cheaply manufactured, will be durable and efficient inservice, and may be easily and quickly applied to any car, whetherstreet, railway, interurban,

or steam railway, without requiring any change in the construction ofthe car. The above recited and other incidental objects of a similarnature, which will be hereinafter more specifically treated, areaccomplished by such means as are illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings, described in the following specification, and then moreparticularly pointed out in the claims, which are appended hereto andform a part of this application.

Referring now to the drawings, wherein there has been illustrated thepreferred embodiment of this invention as it is reduced to practice, andthroughout the several views of which similar reference numeralsdesignate corresponding parts, Figure l is a vertical section takenlongitudinally through a car and showing the cable and associated partsin position against one side wall of the car; Fig. 2 is an end viewlooking into one of the cable pipes and illustrating the manner in whichthe operating rodis freely attached to the cable and Fig. 3 is a detailperspective view showing the several parts of the apparatus indisassembled relation, but indicating the manner in which they areadapted to coact in forming an operative device.

In the accompanying drawings, my invention is shown as applied to a car10, which is of conventional design and is equipped in the well-knownmanner with "a plurality of longitudinally spaced transversely extendingseats or chairs 11 arranged in rows on opposite sides of the car. Acable 12 is arranged on the side wall 13 of the car and is disposed forsliding movement through a plurality of metallic tubes or pipes 14 whichare secured, as by brackets 15, to the side wall 18 and extendlongitudinally therealong a slight distance above the floor 16 of thecar. If desired, a plurality of screw eyelets may be substituted for thepipes 14. The cable 12 connected at its one terminal to the conductorsemergency valve which is provided in all standard cars having anautomatic air brake system. The other terminal of the cable is, as shownin Fig. 1 at the right hand side thereof, extended through the partitionwall 17 which defines the toilet usually provided in interurban andsteam railway cars. A handle 18, which may be of the type now in use, isprovided for this terminal of the cable so that any occupant of thetoilet may, upon observing an impending collision or derailment whichdoes not appear to be noticed by the train crew, pull the cable 12 so asto open the conductors valve gency brakes.

of the cable is exposed As has been hereinbefore explained, the purposeof my invention is to provide the cable 12 with a plurality of operatingrods, there being one rod positioned beneath each chair 11 so thatanyoccupant of the car may, upon observing an impending derailment, be ableto operate the conductors valve, upon short notice, for the purposeabove explained. For this reason, therefore, the vpipeslt areapproximately equal in length to the distance from center to center ofthe seats. Thus, it will be seen that at longitudinally spaced points aportion so that the operating rods, indicated at 19, may be connected tothe cable. I

The pipes 14, through Which the cable 12 extends, are, aspreviou'slystated, secured to the side Wall 13 by brackets 15. One of thesebrackets 15 is illustrated in, detail in Fig. 3, and reference Will,therefore, novv be had to this figure. It Will be seen that each ofthese members 15 includes a substantially ,U-shaped body member 20, theside portions or arms 21 and 22 of which are terminally bent. at rightangles and apertured, producing the vertically extending ears 23 Whichmay be secured by bolts, rivets, screws or other suitable fasteningdevices to. the side Wall. Within the body member 20 and immediatelyadjacent the bight portion thereof is journaled, as on a pin 2%, apulley 25 over Which the cable 12 plays in a manner to be hereafter morefully explained. The terminal of the pipe member 1a is. clamped in thebracket 15 and engagement with the bight portion thereof by means ofdetachable holding or clamping plate. 26. This plate 26 is transverselycurved to conform to the face of the-pipe and is terminally bent to produce the parallel apertured ears or Wings 27. These Wings 27 bear, Whenthe plate is applied to the bracket, against theinner faces of themembers 21 and'22 and are held in proper position thereagainst by theapplication of rivets or similar fasteningj. devices through theapertures 28 Which are formed in the members 21 and 22 and are adaptedto register With the apertures formed in the members-2'7.

From the foregoing description, it Will be readily observed that themembers 15 serve not only as a means forproperly supporting theterminals of the several pipe members 141, but also as supportingmembers for the pulleys 25. The operating or drawing rods 19 areeach'formed from asingle length of relatively stiff Wire or metal rod oflight gage. These rods are each bent at their one terminal to form a 7hand ring or grip 29, and are bent at their other terminal to produce asubstantially rectangular frame which includes the side members 30 and31 and end members 32 ta'tion on an axle 34: a pulley Wheel 35.

This pulley Wheel 35 is adapted to receive the exposed portion of thecable 12 in the manner best shown in Figs. 2 and 3. It Will be notedthat the free end member 33 acts as a guard which Will normally preventthe disengagement of the cable 12 from the pulley Wheel At the sametime, it Will be seen that the member 33 may be withdrawn from distanceas to permit the insertion of or Withdrawal of the cable 12. I

In attaching the operating rods 19 to the seats 11 so that they mayslide in thebase portions thereof, I employ for each seat a pair ofbearing yokes or brackets, Which is illustrated in detail in Fig. 3.This bracket or yoke includes a pair of diverging arms 36 and 37 which,together With a connecting portion 38, define a subthe member 30 such aone of stantially V-shaped frame." The terminals The rod thereon forsliding movement by means of half bearing plates, indicated at 41. Fromthe foregoing description, it Will be apparent that each seat 11 of thecar is equipped With a sliding rod Which'is freely connected to thecable 12. Thus, in case any one of the passengers observes the pendencyof a derailment or the like which does not appear to be observed by'thetrain crew, he may avert disaster by vgrasping the hand ring 29 anddrawing -the member 19 outwardly with the resultant shortening of theeffective length of the cable 12 and the consequent opening of theconductors valve in the air brake system.

In concluding the description of the invention, it may be Well toexplain that, 5

While only oneside of the'car has 'beenlill'ustrated, it is my intentionto provide for each side of the car, and thus for every seat therein, arod 19 so that any occupant of the car may, upon observing a derailment,be 2 emphasize the fact that such a modification is entirely Within thespirit of my invention.

In reduction to practice, it has beenfound that the form of thisinvention illustrated in the drawings, and referred to in the abovedescription as the preferred embodiment, is the most eflicient andpractical; yet realizing that the conditions concurrent with theadoption of this device will necessarily vary, it is desirable toemphasize the fact that various minor changes in details ofconstruction, proportion and arrangement of parts may be resorted to,when required, without sacrificing any of the advantages of thisinvention, as defined in the appended claims.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is l. Thecombination with a car having an automatic air brake system, of anemergency controlling apparatus for the system, said apparatus includinga plurality of tubes, each of a length slightly less than the distancefrom center to center of the car seats, a cable extending through thetubes and connected to the conductors valve of the air brake system, andmeans slidable transversely beneath the seats of the car and connectedto the exposed portions of the cable whereby the effective length of thesame may be lessened with the consequent opening of the conductorsvalve.

2. The combination with a car having an automatic air brake system, ofan emergency controlling apparatus including a cable attached to theconductors valve, a plurality of tube members arranged with theirterminals in spaced relation to the terminals of the adjacent tubemembers, brackets removably securing the tubes to the side walls of thecar, said tubes receiving the cable member, rods slidable transverselyof the car and secured beneath the seats thereof, frame members formedon the terminals of the rods, and pulleys journaled in the frames andengaged with the adjacent exposed portions of the cable which liebetween the ad- 1lacent terminals of each pair of tube memers.

3. The combination with a car having an automatic air brake system, ofan emergency controlling apparatus, said apparatus including a cableextending longitudinally along the sides of the car and connected to thecondu'ctors valve of the air brake system, a plurality of tubes throughwhich the cable, extends, there being a portion of the cable exposedbetween the adjacent terminals of the tubes, and a plurality of rodsmounted for transverse sliding movement in the car, said rods beingfreely connected at their terminals to the exposed portions of thecable, said rods being adapted upon movement awa from the side of thecar to shorten the e ective length of the cable, whereby the conductorsvalve may be opened.

4. An emergency controlling apparatus adapted for attachment to a carhaving an automatic air-brake system, said apparatus including a cableconnected to the conductors valve of said system, an operating rodfreely engaging the cable, and brackets slidably connecting the rod to aseat of the car, whereby the effective length of the cable may beshortened upon the actuation of said rod to thereby open the conductorsvalve.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

THEODORE B. LA RUE. 1.8.

Witnesses:

NEIL G. BARDSLEY, O. L. STARR.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents.

Washington, D. G. i

